Current mortgage rates are approaching a new historic all time low. Today the stock market took a plunge sending investors running to safe havens including bonds. Bond demand went up driving prices up and yields, which move it’s opposite down. The 10 year treasury yield, the leading indicator for current mortgage rates, primarily 30 year fixed mortgages, dropped 0.113 ( down 3.42% overall ) to a 4 1/2 month low closing at 3.195. Mortgage rates, which tend to follow the yield are down as a result.
The Fed has driven current mortgage rates down to historic lows.
Current Mortgage Rates at a Record Low?
Today’s 30 year fixed mortgage rates are at 4.625 percent at par, our research of wholesale lenders current mortgage rates shows. The last time mortgage rates were this low was April of this year. With Freddie Mac’s weekly average 30 year fixed mortgage rates report the only one considered for the record books, we will not know until next week if rates are an official all time record low, but they are darn close.
Current Mortgage Rates and Home Affordability
A principal and interest payment on a 30 year fixed mortgage of $200,000, with an interest rate based of today’s mortgage rate of 4.625 percent is $1,028.28. The bottom line, interest rates are at an all time low and so is home affordability, especially with the market at what seems to be a bottom.
Current Mortgage Rates Forecast
While it’s nearly impossible to predict mortgage rates, current mortgage rates leading indicator is the benchmark 10 yera treasury yield. Analysts from Goldman Sachs, Chase, and Bank of America have weighed in on predictions for the yield; however, they’re forecasts are fluctuating. It’s likely after the recent announcement that the TALF program, in which the government buys up mortgage backed securities, will wind down slowly and extend into next year that rates will remain very very low.